‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’ (Chinese Proverb)

‘When we are at the point where the majority of humans themselves are literate and able to get the information, we're in an entirely new relationship to Universe. We are at the point where the integrity of the individual counts.’(Buckminster Fuller: triangle aficionado, designer of the Geodesic sphere)

Storyverse is new kind of Do It Yourself live literature event that supports people to create and share stories about things that matter.

It’s a downloadable, spoken word starter-kit, complete with visuals, music and all the bits you need to set up a show from scratch. These tools and instructions are offered for free.

Groups supply themselves and their stories. They source the performance space, which could be the local library, town square, or shop front. Together, they work through a series of workshops that teach the skills needed to put on this participatory spoken word event.

Storyverse is influenced by Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (sometimes called Forum Theatre) as well as by the socially therapeutic agendas of improvisatory companies such as Improbable Theatre. It is inspired by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and by Buckminster Fuller’s Geodesic Sphere. It’s my response to how we can make positive social change through art in a multicultural democracy.

THANKS TO:Steve Benford and all the wonderfully smart, funny and warm individuals who make up the collaborative and creative team at the Mixed Reality Lab. This would not only not have happened but it would also have been no fun at all without you.

Uwe Aickelin and everyone in the Computer Sciences Department for their generoushospitality, to Sheila Popple and Emma Juggins for their help and to Dipa Patel and hernetworks for all the positivity and support in making this happen.

Mouthy Poets - the dynamic and uber-talented spoken word collective who meet every Friday, often at the Nottingham Playhouse, though as you can see tonight, the venue does change. If you’d like more info about this innovative and welcoming group, please see Anne Holloway or contact them online through their wordpress site The MouthyPoets Blog.

Catherine Rogers and Henderson Mullin of WEM who supported a scratch version of the storyverse format at Lyric Lounge, Nottingham as part of WEYA.

Arts Council England’s Grants for the Arts. A shout-out to Charles Beckett, Sarah Sanders and David Cross for all the concrete practical support and the invaluable, valued creative and strategic feedback.

If you would like to keep up with the developments of storyverse.net or find out more about the storyverse web interface and workshops, you can follow us on twitter @stryvrs or on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storyverse.net

Documentary film-maker Ioney Smallhorme is making a short film of the event which we will be featuring on here www.b3media.net Please look out for it in early 2013.